Up and Down on the Tennessee River

We decided to do the side trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee for a few reasons. It was the home port for our good Looper friends Maggie and Bruce; AGLCA was asking people to slow down and give Fort Myers a chance to recover somewhat from Hurricane Ian before so many boats ventured into an area that was potentially unsafe; and finally, our friends Pam and Bob, from Out of the Blue, had planned to do it to see the fall colours and invited us to do it with them. So everything seemed to be telling us to go to Chattanooga! Check out our video called Chattanooga Here We Come.

Since we would travel the same stretch of the Tennessee River on the way there and back, we will mix up the timeline a little, and then cover our fantastic week in Chattanooga in a separate blog. Our actual order of travel was as follows:

Heading East from Counce, Mississippi:

Rogersville, Alabama at Joe Wheeler State Park
Huntsville, Alabama at Ditto Landing
Scottsboro, Alabama at Goosepond Marina
Shell Mound, Tennessee on a free dock
Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Heading West from Chattanooga, Tennessee:

Scottsboro, Alabama at Goosepond Marina
Rogersville, Alabama at Joe Wheeler State Park
Florence, Alabama at Florence Harbor Marina
Iuka, Mississippi at Safe Harbor Aqua Yacht

Rogersville, Alabama at Joe Wheeler State Park

We stopped here twice. On our trip east, we were making up time to catch up to Out of the Blue. We had six hours of travel time ahead of us plus two locks so we were away shortly after 7 AM. We travelled with some other boats as far as Florence, but then we were on our own, but not really. Someone had told us to be kind and respectful with all the tows that we encounter on this stretch of the Tennessee River because you will see the same tows over and over. We had hailed a tow named Long John to pass them on our way to Florence. Right after we hailed them, a west bound tow, hidden behind a curve, hailed them. After all the passing, we let Long John know that we did not see an AIS signal from them. (This was putting some Karma into the Karma bank.) The AIS signal makes them digitally visible to other boats travelling on the twisty waterway so the west bound tow had not "seen" them either. Later, when we hailed the Wilson Lock to see if we could lock through, they told us that a tow was expected shortly and it would be up to the tow if we could lock through with them or not. The tow turned out to be Long John and they were happy to have us lock through with them - Karma! The Wilson lock called ahead to the Wheeler Lock for us and told us we would be locking through that lock as well with Long John. We went very slow as Long John was a slow tow, but at least we knew we would be able to get through the next lock.

After 9 1/2 hours of running, we finally arrived at Joe Wheeler State Park. We were very happy that Out of the Blue and Sunset were there to catch our lines. Somehow, Heather managed to lose a fender while she was securing them on the rails and she noticed it was floating well past the last dock so we had to get the dinghy down to go fetch it. We had a very nice docktails with Pam and Bob and planned the next few days to Chattanooga. Then we had a comforting spaghetti dinner in a cozy warm boat. We got the heat going and settled in for a cold night going down to 1C!

We stopped again at Joe Wheeler State Park on our return trip west. That day, we were away from Scotsboro just after sunrise, around 7 AM, and it was a little gloomy out but there was no fog. The fishermen were out in droves! We called the Guntersville Lock an hour out and he said he had nothing coming so we were able to go right in! It was so nice not to lose much time on account of a lock. Our only wait after Guntersville was a train at the Decatur Drawbridge, which we also had on the way to Scotsboro! It was a very long day and we were all getting tired. It was Halloween so we enjoyed a video call from our kids who were all dressed up, including the dogs. We finally said goodbye so we could dock at the end of our 10:15 hour run!

After we registered, we got a fire going in a fire pit on shore. We had docktails, including roasting marshmellows! Cam and I ate our leftovers by the fire. Then Pam and Bob came back out for more fire time and a night cap. We finally extinguished the fire and went for a quick tour of the lodge. What a great night!

In the morning, we finally got the fog day that Pam had predicted so we weren't able to leave until around 10 AM. We went for a walk on the roads at the state park and saw dozens of huge ant hills, some squirrels, chipmunks, and seven deer! That easily made up for the fog delay.

Huntsville, Alabama at Ditto Landing

We had planned to anchor on our way east but decided that it was going to be a cold night and we wanted to plug in so we could have some heat overnight to keep us cozy. So we did a six hour run east from Rogersville to Huntsville at Ditto Landing. It was windy but the wind and waves were on our stern for the most part. Heather took the helm for most of the day so Cam could get some work done. The end of the journey was in a very well protected channel but when we pulled into the marina it was windy and made docking a challenge! We helped Out of the Blue in and then had docktails with Dave, our Harbor Host, who we had recently met at the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous. We thought it might be fun for him to experience docktails, which is an important social aspect of doing the Loop.

Scottsboro, Alabama at Goosepond Marina

This is another stop that we went to twice. On our eastbound journey leaving Ditto Landing, we noticed Dancing Bears leaving at 8 AM and we knew he was heading for the lock. We didn't want to slow things down for him so we got ready quickly and departed at 9 AM without calling ahead to the lock. Then we ramped up our speed to catch up to him. At 9:30 AM, Heather called the lock and they said they were locking through a double so they wouldn't be able to lock us through for 3 hours! Ugh! We wished we'd called them from our slip before we left! We slowed right down and eventually anchored downstream of the lock. When we finally got in the lock, there was so much backflow that Cam and I had to fight really hard to hold the boat! The stern drifted way out and the rub rails were rubbing the lock wall. Cam's lower back was killing him after and Heather's upper back and tummy muscles were sore too! Both of us did lots of stretches for the rest of the trip. We tied up to a very short dock for the night at Goosepond Marina, but we were happy.

We had drinks on Out of the Blue and then went to dinner at The Docks. Tsali and Jacque from Compass Rose greeted us on the way and then came for a longer visit at the restaurant. They live in the same town as Pam's sister - small world! They just completed their loop and plan and they are planning their next one. Tsali had been so helpful sending us tips for the area as he followed our journey on Nebo and he continued to be a great resource for us. What a terrific couple! At dinner, Cam decided to do the southern thing and he had Shrimp and Grits for dinner which he loved!

We stopped here again on our return trip which was a long day all the way from Chattanooga. We were underway 5 minutes before sunrise, but the sun is rising later now so it wasn't that early. The fall colours in the gorge were spectacular! The time zone changed back to Central time before we got to the Nickajack lock. It was so much easier locking down for a change and we realized the rest of our locks would be down until we reached the Gulf of Mexico. Nice! Everything went smoothly today and we arrived at Goosepond Marina at 3:50 PM, after almost 9 hours of travelling. Heather did some dinner prep underway with meatloaf in the Instant Pot. That was a relief.

We decided to stay put on Sunday due to the forecast of rain and winds along with a tip from Tsali on Compass Rose. We thought it was a bad decision until we talked to some boaters who did go out. Thanks again Tsali! We were able to watch our church's 200th anniversary service online, get a fuel up and pumpout, and borrow the courtesy van to go to Walmart and the liquor store. You might remember from earlier posts how excited we are when we get to go to a Walmart! We made departure plans with the other boats on the dock. Then we enjoyed Docktails on our boat with Pam and Bob. We made an ambitious plan for an early start with a run to Joe Wheeler for 99.2 miles, including one lock. We both have agendas and ours is to get service at AquaMarine in Iuka.

Shell Mound, Tennessee

Our friends, Maggie and Bruce, suggested that we stay at Shell Mound, which is a relatively short distance from Chattanooga, but the final stretch is all about the scenery. We took our time and got started on our run at around 10 AM. Again we saw the beautiful wisps of fog dancing on the water since it was a chilly -1C. After the sun came out, the day turned out to be beautiful. We could see a boat ahead of us for most of our journey. We called ahead to the lock and the lock master was really friendly. He held the boat that was ahead of us in the lock and we got right in. We were glad that we called ahead because the lock master couldn't see around the bend so he usually just locked boats through as they came. The other boat said that they only waited about 5 minutes. When we got to ShellMound, Charley Girl was there to help us in and Ron had already sounded the depths in the area, which was a great help. Out of the Blue went on the end of the second T dock and two other boats came in after them. We decided to have docktails on shore with everyone, and we were happy to get a dog visit while we were there from Ottysey. It was going to be another cold night so we ran the generator for a bit before bed so we could run the heat. Then in the morning, Cam started the generator and the heater and climbed back under the covers until the boat warmed up. Starting the coffee also helps to warm up the cabin.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

The run from ShellMound to Chattanooga is the most picturesque which is why we chose to stop at ShellMound so we could take our time to enjoy the last leg of the journey into Chattanooga. It was foggy when we woke in ShellMound that morning, and -1C! We wanted to enjoy the views along the way so we went for a walk after breakfast before starting our final leg to Chattanooga. Once we were underway and reached the gorge, we slowed down as it was so beautiful. Cam set the mood by playing Tennessee-like banjo music as we followed the river upstream. Our friend Maggie was following us using the Nebo app and sent us notes of things to watch for along the way. That included a school that she nicknamed Hogwarts! When we came around the bend into Chattanooga, Bruce was waving from the end of his dock. Thank you Maggie and Bruce! A nice welcome to Chattanooga!

Florence, Alabama at Florence Harbor Marina

We skipped Florence on our way to Chattanooga as we were trying to catch up to Out of the Blue. We really wanted to stop there because there is so much to do including Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, and the birthplace of Helen Keller. We were very pleased that we would be able to stop there on our way back, if only for a day. We had to wait a couple of hours for very dense fog to clear before we were able to get away from Joe Wheeler State Park. We got right through the Wheeler Lock which was great and even had some excitement as we tied up. As we were slowly moving into the lock, focusing on getting close enough to reach the bollard, and talking to each other quietly on our headsets, Heather threw the line to loop the bollard and two large birds suddenly flew out!! We’re not sure who scared who more! That was certainly a first! Our next delay was for the Wilson lock as we had to wait another two hours! It was very still and beautiful in Wilson Lake, so we just floated and made the best of it, but unfortunately we arrived in Florence around 4 PM, too late to do any touring and we had to be in Iuka, Mississippi the next day. We did learn that we were lucky as some people had waited much longer for the Wilson Lock, or were refused and told to lock through the next day at 6 AM or after 6 PM.

We wanted to do something in Florence so we decided to go out for some authentic southern fried chicken. We found a place called Champy’s. The restaurant had a real Alabama feel to it from the waitress saying “I gotch y’all” to the pickup trucks doing donuts in a nearby parking lot followed by squealing tires as they raced down the street beside us. The food was pretty good but it weighed pretty heavily in our stomachs afterwards but we really enjoyed it!